1. Field of the Invention
The disclosed embodiments relate generally to IP routing systems and, more specifically, to a self-configuring IP video router providing a plug-and-play transport interface between two LANs, one of which is the host to multiple IP video cameras or servers.
2. Background of the Invention
Increasing application of Internet Protocol-based (IP-based) video cameras and video servers, particularly for surveillance and security purposes, has resulted in a number of private Local Area Network (LAN) deployments for local monitoring. With the introduction of wireless mesh technologies, many of these monitoring deployments have become wireless due to the convenience of installation of these Ad-Hoc type networks. Many of these installations, both wired and wireless, involve the use of a local monitoring, control and recording station which is also a node on the same network. An example of this type of configuration is illustrated in FIG. 1.
Often, as shown by FIG. 1, these networks have as their only or primary purpose the collection and monitoring of IP video due to the stringent bandwidth requirements associated with the video surveillance application. Industry experience has shown that the transport of video on a predominately data network often results in degradation of the quality of the video and introduction of non-deterministic delays in network data tasks such as web access, file transfer or network printing. This has resulted in a need to segregate the functions of the networks (for network traffic management) with interconnection of the video LAN to other more data oriented LAN networks for selective viewing purposes.
Interconnection with other private LANs generally requires the use of a router device between the networks, as shown in FIG. 2. This router is used to translate addresses and to manipulate IP ports to allow the transport of the video across the interface between the networks. The router has a network address (typically a private network address, for this application) on each of the two networks being interconnected. For the purposes of illustration, the side of the router connected to the network that includes the IP video sources is referred to as the “inside” interface while the other side of the router is referred to as the “outside” interface.
Unfortunately, configuration of such a router is typically an involved manual process. While some commercial routers are currently available and could be used for this purpose, there is no standard terminology or configuration interface that would make it possible to specify in detail the setup steps for a general case.
Currently, transport of IP video between networks requires the insertion of a router device to handle the address translation. Most routers include a firewall which also restricts the use of most IP ports, unless specifically configured otherwise.
Configuration of the router involves at least the following steps:                (a) Address specification on the “outside” network. This is accomplished either manually through an interactive setup procedure, or automatically through use of the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP).        (b) For each video source on the “inside” network, anywhere from one to three unique IP ports (one for the video stream, one for control and configuration access and possibly one for Pan-Tilt-Zoom control pass-through) must be configured on the appropriate IP camera or video server. For example, if there are five cameras (or video servers) on the video network, this step must be performed five times.        (c) For each of the video sources on the “inside” network to be made available on the “outside” network, each of the unique IP ports (again, one to three ports per IP video source) must be configured in the router for “Port Forwarding”. For example, if there are five cameras (or video servers) on the video network, this step be performed five times.        
In addition, access to the video being generated by the network attached cameras currently requires the user to know the IP address of the video source and enter it into a browser or special viewing software, depending on the capabilities of the video source device.
Consequently, the setup of a router to allow transport of IP video between two networks is a difficult, laborious, and time-consuming task that requires a user to have an expert understanding of both network router concepts and of the configuration interface of the particular commercial router selected for this application.